Sichuan Province, Western China 23rd October to 20th November 2006 John & Jemi Holmes
 
 
 
Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve,
Pingwu County
 
Getting there
 
Picked up at Wanglang HQs by Mr HUNG in his minivan, we took about 2 ½ hours to go back to Pingwu, from where we got the 1430 bus to Qingchuan, getting off at Qingxi.  Arriving at about 1630 we were picked up by Mr WANG (mobile 138 81205061), another driver Jemi and I had met in the summer.  Visibility from the rear of Mr WANG’s minivan is somewhat limited due to the tinted windows, so it was he who spotted a party of about twenty Takin on the hillside between the Tangjiahe reserve entrance and HQs.  Three of the Takin had radio collars.
 
 
Takin  (Budorcas taxicolor)
 
 
At Tangjiahe HQs we opted for Block “B” opposite reception, RMB 300 for a twin room. It was very new and comfortable. Due to availability, Jemi and I had stayed in Block “D” in the summer (RMB100) which was very dilapidated.  There was no “eating with the staff” option at Tangjiahe, the accommodation and restaurant set-up is more upmarket and formal than Wanglang.
 
 
 
Birding
 
Blocks B, C and D are beside the river, with the wooded hillside and nature trail on the far side. The first-floor corridors are open-ended with a platform outside.  We were pleasantly surprised to find White-capped River Chats buzzing up and down the corridor at dawn, perhaps attracted by insects at the electric lights.
 
We had a good morning  (31st Oct.) on the Nature Trail, encountering six or seven muntjacs, as well as Slaty Buntings (also noted on the summer trip), Scaly Thrushes, Grey-winged Blackbird, Chinese Babax and Eurasian Jays.  Small stuff included more Sooty Tits and Spectacled Fulvettas.
 
In the evening we spent a couple of hours on the trail next to the river, where we saw a Yellow-throated Marten and a Tufted Deer.
 
I had heard a loud “Pink-pink” calling from the window of our room the first morning and thought it must have been a woodpecker somewhere. Only on day two, when putting my socks on the washing line behind the block, did I realise that the sound was coming from a pair of Crested Kingfishers, bent on removing all the goldfish from an ornamental pond next to reception.
 
We then spent most of the day along the track that runs parallel to the main river (upstream of HQs).  After about two kilometres the track (originally built to haul out timber, I presume) has been washed away, and only a footpath remains.  We had to climb down onto the riverbed in places.  Highlights included Spotted and Barred Laughingthrushes, a male Temminck’s Tragopan on the way out and two male golden Pheasants on the way back.
 
On our third day at Tangjiahe, we got Mr WANG to come in and drive us up towards Motianling. This involved going back almost to the main entrance, and turning left over a bridge and heading north up a valley parallel to a stream.  The ridges one can see from the end of this track mark the border with Baishuijiang NNR in Gansu Province.  We encountered a flock of over one hundred Elliot’s Laughingthrushes and added Golden-breasted Fulvetta to the trip list.  A loud clamouring in the bushes/bamboo about thirty metres uphill from the track turned out to be a flock of more than 50 Spectacled Parrotbills.